iQueue
I own zero Apple products, but I know some people (Denis, Jen) are very devoted to their iStuff. Myles would really like me to have an iPhone, and after seeing all the great things an iPhone 4 can do, it is tempting to covet. They are still a little out of my range.
The iPhone 4 went on sale here in China on Saturday. Only a week before the iPad was launched, and the few Apple stores in Beijing and Shanghai were subject to the same days-long lines as were in other countries. Saturday (and the days before) saw the same response from local consumers wanting a iPhone 4. What makes these scenes even more remarkable is that Saturday was not an ordinary Saturday but a working Saturday (again, the way "holidays" are scheduled here).
I actually got to see one of the lines first hand. This isn't remarkable for the average Beijing expat, but it was for us because we are seldom in Sanlitun and almost never on a Saturday. Randy had a meeting at a hotel near here, so the kids and I went to the Bookworm and then this mall, The Village, for frozen yogurt.
The line was mostly orderly, patrolled by a few policemen and one giant German shepherd. As we ate our yogurts, a fight broke out, though from where we were I couldn't exactly hear much other than violently raised voices. I think a man was ejected from the line.
When I first came to China over four years ago, I was delighted at the prices and availability of gadgety phones both inside of China and especially in Hong Kong. The first summer I came back I was using my camera phone like crazy, something that still wasn't that common in Pittsburgh in 2006. I had a Sony Ericsson which even looked and handled like a real camera. When people would notice it, I was compelled to point out it also was a fully functioning mp3 player as well. Obviously, today that isn't rare, but then it was. Even in 2006 when a similar model was available for the US market, it was hundreds (!) of dollars more than I paid in Hong Kong
The iPhone is the opposite of this earlier experience of mine. The availability in China has lagged the rest of the world. The iPhone 3, even costing more than the iPhone in other countries, is sold without the wifi. Now the iPhone 4 is out as fully equipped as everywhere else, and the 32 GB phone is RMB 5,999 and the 16 GB is RMB 4,999, both without any needing to be attached to any one service provider (lower unit prices are available through Unicom). In Hong Kong, these are HK$5,888 and HK$4,888 respectively. That means, in US dollars, the same 32GB iPhone is $895 in China and $758 in Hong Kong; the 16GB is $746 in China and $630 in Hong Kong. Quite a bit more than the US prices, but customers in China and Hong Kong are not required to buy into 2-year contract that mandates a data and messaging plan with only one available carrier.
And for anyone who buys their iPhone elsewhere and hopes to bring it into China, there was this advice circulating on twitter yesterday.
The iPhone 4 went on sale here in China on Saturday. Only a week before the iPad was launched, and the few Apple stores in Beijing and Shanghai were subject to the same days-long lines as were in other countries. Saturday (and the days before) saw the same response from local consumers wanting a iPhone 4. What makes these scenes even more remarkable is that Saturday was not an ordinary Saturday but a working Saturday (again, the way "holidays" are scheduled here).
I actually got to see one of the lines first hand. This isn't remarkable for the average Beijing expat, but it was for us because we are seldom in Sanlitun and almost never on a Saturday. Randy had a meeting at a hotel near here, so the kids and I went to the Bookworm and then this mall, The Village, for frozen yogurt.
The line was mostly orderly, patrolled by a few policemen and one giant German shepherd. As we ate our yogurts, a fight broke out, though from where we were I couldn't exactly hear much other than violently raised voices. I think a man was ejected from the line.
When I first came to China over four years ago, I was delighted at the prices and availability of gadgety phones both inside of China and especially in Hong Kong. The first summer I came back I was using my camera phone like crazy, something that still wasn't that common in Pittsburgh in 2006. I had a Sony Ericsson which even looked and handled like a real camera. When people would notice it, I was compelled to point out it also was a fully functioning mp3 player as well. Obviously, today that isn't rare, but then it was. Even in 2006 when a similar model was available for the US market, it was hundreds (!) of dollars more than I paid in Hong Kong
The iPhone is the opposite of this earlier experience of mine. The availability in China has lagged the rest of the world. The iPhone 3, even costing more than the iPhone in other countries, is sold without the wifi. Now the iPhone 4 is out as fully equipped as everywhere else, and the 32 GB phone is RMB 5,999 and the 16 GB is RMB 4,999, both without any needing to be attached to any one service provider (lower unit prices are available through Unicom). In Hong Kong, these are HK$5,888 and HK$4,888 respectively. That means, in US dollars, the same 32GB iPhone is $895 in China and $758 in Hong Kong; the 16GB is $746 in China and $630 in Hong Kong. Quite a bit more than the US prices, but customers in China and Hong Kong are not required to buy into 2-year contract that mandates a data and messaging plan with only one available carrier.
And for anyone who buys their iPhone elsewhere and hopes to bring it into China, there was this advice circulating on twitter yesterday.
Comments